Austin 1970 pickup from Guatemala

[GBond]

I got two packages today, first one was my new main bearings. Finally![frame][/frame]
Then began the process of assembling the engine.[frame][/frame]
Hope to empty this tray soon.[frame][/frame]
Head almost ready as well.[frame][/frame]That Glyptal does make it look pretty.

And here's what came in the second package; it was very hard to find but it's even from the same year as the pick-up and with a little bit of careful cleaning should also be looking good in no time.[frame][/frame]

[GBond]

Busy weekend, first piston, ready to go in![frame][/frame]
A little bit of persuasion with some wood and a hammer.[frame][/frame]
All done![frame][/frame]I fit the oil pump and camshaft before the cylinders because it would be easier that way but then had some headaches because when I turned the engine the bottom of the connecting rods hit the cam lobes making me think I had put them in the wrong way around. Turns out it is like that but they don't make contact once the timing chain rotates the camshaft.

Closing it up.[frame][/frame]Hopefully it'll be a long time before I see these parts again.

Since it wasn't mentioned neither in the Haynes or on the BMC manual of course I forgot to screw this little oil cover in before installing the crankshaft, and the screws are about 1/4" too long to be able to fit them with the crankshaft already in.[frame][/frame]So I cut them so that they would fit. In my defence I wasn't the one who disassembled the engine so I didn't notice that. By the way I noticed there's no oil seal so I'm guessing the level will need to be checked quite frequently.

Saturday, new timing chain on.[frame][/frame]
Pulley nice and painted.[frame][/frame]
Valves fitted.[frame][/frame]
End plate painted and installed.[frame][/frame]
Chain cover, pulley.[frame][/frame]
Sunday, on goes the flywheel.[frame][/frame]
And it's finally time to close everything up![frame][/frame]
All torqued up and adjusted.[frame][/frame]
Water pump on and it's pretty much done![frame][/frame]I had played around with R/C car engines before as well as a single cylinder motorcycle engine but this is my first "serious" engine assembly. It was quite a lot of fun. Tomorrow afternoon I'll begin with the clutch, ancilliaries and paint.

[MarkyB]

I'd suggest you get rid of that bypass hose and replace it with a short length of heater hose.
Those corrugated hoses are only really useful as a get you home measure.

[SUE482]

Its looking good, I hope you have done the basics by replacing the oil pump and keeping the mains and big end journals as correct pairs and in the right order. I always use graphite grease when assembling the bearings and pistons, gives protection before the oil begins to lubricate, Oh and don't forget to prime the oil pump.
Ian

[GBond]

Thanks for the comments and recommendations.

The bypass hose is the silicone type, think that will hold or should I still upgrade to something beefier? I don't have any heater hose around since my car doesn't have one but I could probably find something else.

I did use a new fuel pump as well as main and big end bearings; the only ones I didn't change were the camshaft ones.

The old oil pump had five lobes and the new one only 4. It says Powertune on the outside, does anyone have any experience with these? I did fill it with oil and tried to plug the inlet and outlet holes with vaseline so that it wouldn't come out but I've rotated the engine since so hopefully the oil hasn't all drained down to the sump.

I better get back to work, hopefully I can do more progress this afternoon.

[GBond]

What I DID forget though was to fit the core plug before I put on the end plate and flywheel. Good thing I remembered before putting the engine in the car.[frame][/frame]

[MarkyB]

I've no experience with silicon hoses so can't comment, sorry.

[GBond]

Painted the engine.[frame][/frame]I had painted the chain cover and sump before with a paintgun to get a smoother finish but the color from one can to the next isn't exactly the same. It isn't that visible under normal light but in the picture with the camera flash you can really notice it.

Assembly date, with me and my dad's initials.[frame][/frame]
Still, mismatched colors are the least of my problems.[frame][/frame]Notice the little o-rings in the valves? They broke, five of the eight and I haven't even started the engine.

Closer shot.[frame][/frame]By the way i better oil everything up soon, just noticed the surface rust forming in the picture.

I don't think these little o-rings are vital so I'm thinking about removing them all and going without, but even that is a pain in the a** since they're really hard to get out from inside the spring.[frame][/frame]I've sent Matt a PM with the details; most of the spares I've received have been good quality but this really made me mad. What's worse is that if the damn o-rings hadn't been in the kit to begin with I would have found a good quality substitute locally, but since they were I decided to go with the ones from the kit and ended up worse.

[Neil MG]

No big worry about the o rings. I've been running mine without for a couple of years and it doesn't smoke or burn much oil. Just an occasional whiff of smoke after starting following a hard run, but I would expect that anyway seeing as the engine has not been rebuilt yet (in 57 years and 80,000 miles) and the bores are quite worn!

[GBond]

Thanks for the reassuring info Neil, I think I'll leave the engine without the o-rings for the moment. Can't see them doing much benefit to the oil going into the cylinder since I believe they're supposed to go up near the spring collets and not near the valve guides like more modern designs. I was afraid they'd serve also to keep the collets in place but I'll tie them together with a piece of thin wire just in case.

Most of the bottom end of the engine is new but due to restricted budget I kept the old head and valves which are not designed for unleaded fuel so I'm thinking in the not so distant future this might be a worthy investment.

[Neil MG]

Unless you are going to be doing a lot of highway (high speed cruising) driving, then you will be fine with the head and valve seats for many years to come. My head is as it left the factory in 1956 and I use unleaded without additive. After a few years the money saved on additive can go towards hardened valve seats, but that is not looking like it will be any time soon. Keep an eye on the tappet clearances. Repeated closing up of the exhaust clearance is a sign of valve seat recession and that's your signal to have the head done.

You are right about those O-rings. Modern stem seals can be used and you might want to fit those when the head is next off, hopefully several years into the future!

[GBond]

I'll be doing mostly city driving and small roads, although with many elevation changes so I might need to rev the little engine a bit but I think I'll do as you say and take my chances and save the money for an unleaded head when this one goes.

Current progress:[frame][/frame]The two tone paintscheme is the result of painting everything before assembly with two different cans. It actually doesn't look bad but next time I'll do like they did in the factory and just paint everything once it's all assembled and save some time and effort.

[rogerowen]

Looks fantastic! You've done a great job.

[midengineracer]

The half of the seal you added after the crankshaft was in, it keeps the oil in by close clearance to the crank and grooves running counter to the direction of rotation to wind oil back in. It must be set to proper clearance if it is like the engine in my old Triumph.

[GBond]

Thanks Roger! Thanks midengineracer!

I noticed the grooves on the oil seal but I didn't find anything to adjust so I'm hoping the clearance is OK. I guess a small amount of oil leaking is normal for these cars but still I'd like to keep it to a minimum. I read in another thread that the vaccuum from the engine breather also helps suck the oil back into the engine. What I've noticed also is that the breathers are usually on the rocker cover for UK cars while mine has it on the side cover.

Doing the ignition system now; original wires still look OK and aren't that hard.[frame][/frame]There are two missing connectors but I'll try them still and hopefully they'll work OK. Otherwise I'll see if I can transfer the original spark plug caps to new cables.

Fitting the clutch.[frame][/frame]Used a stick with some masking tape to get it centered, seems to have worked OK.

Next up.[frame][/frame]

[GBond]

Distributor and cables finally done![frame][/frame]Had to change the vaccuum unit and cap for the ones from an old MGB distributor that was lying around. Hope the advance curves aren't far too different. The coil seems to be hiding somewhere, we'll have to organize a search party to find it.

"We are the champions, my friends,"[frame][/frame]Not much happening lately but I'll try to get more progress done on the weekend.

[rogerowen]

Looking good! I have a spare new coil (Austin A30), you are welcome to that for the postage

[GBond]

Thanks a lot Roger! I'm sure mine has to be around here somewhere but I might take you up on your offer if it fails to appear.

The daily driver needs a service urgently so that might take some time away from the Morris on the weekend but we'll see what can be done.

There aren't any 145 tyres for sale in Guatemala so I just got a quotation to buy some from the US. $375 for 5 tyres is not that bad but $462.87 for shipping (without taxes) does seem a little steep so I'm looking at different alternatives right now.

I'm planning on having the car done in february but if I can pick up the pace a little I'm thinking early january could be possible.

[rogerowen]

Thanks a lot Roger! I'm sure mine has to be around here somewhere but I might take you up on your offer if it fails to appear.

The daily driver needs a service urgently so that might take some time away from the Morris on the weekend but we'll see what can be done.

There aren't any 145 tyres for sale in Guatemala so I just got a quotation to buy some from the US. $375 for 5 tyres is not that bad but $462.87 for shipping (without taxes) does seem a little steep so I'm looking at different alternatives right now.

I'm planning on having the car done in february but if I can pick up the pace a little I'm thinking early january could be possible.

Yes, 145's are expensive - could you manage with 155? - they are much cheaper.

[GBond]

Not here, the 145s I've found are $75 and the 155s are $80.

The problem is the shipping that's more expensive than the tyres. (The $462.87 is ONLY for the shipping from the US and from GB would probably be even more expensive even if I can get cheaper tyres)

These are the ones I've looked at: http://www.cokertire.com/firestone-f560-145r14.html

I'll probably order them to a US address to save on shipping and then have a freight forwarding company ship them over by sea to Guatemala. I'm getting their quotation tomorrow and I hope it's more reasonable.

Skinniest sizes for sale here are 165/65R14 but from some unknown chinese brand. I haven't measured my wheels since they still have the old tyres on them but I suspect they're the 4" ones.